Two graduates from WMed’s Class of 2023 will explore the ethics of various OBGYN pain management techniques in editorial fellowships for the American Medical Association (AMA) Journal of Ethics.
Amy Lorber, MD, now a Pediatrics resident at Oregon Health & Science University, and Andrew Lynch, MD, a resident in the medical school’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, are among a diverse group of medical students and graduates to land a spot in the latest cohort. They will spend the next nearly two years delving into their specialized topic and will co-edit and publish the journal’s February 2025 issue.
Dr. Lorber and Dr. Lynch will explore acute pain management in non-labor and delivery OBGYN settings. They will include examining how providers talk to patients about the pain associated with different procedures or conditions and whether the current system is treating pain appropriately. They will receive training from the journal’s editorial board and will be guided by their faculty mentor, Tyler Gibb, PhD, an associate professor and co-chair of the medical school’s Department of Medical Ethics, Humanities, and Law. They met with their cohort in February for a working conference in Chicago.
Their research will explore topics including intrauterine device insertion pain management, medical school education around the terminology used to describe pain, management during and after abortion procedures and how pain is measured in clinical studies.
Their desire to further delve into these topics came from experiences throughout their clerkships at WMed. Their interest in pain management overlaps with different patient populations, including obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics.
“We had been talking about some frustrating scenarios we had seen with patients’ pain not being taken seriously or differences in how people are treating pain based off of their background and their patient’s background,” Dr. Lynch said. “We saw this as an opportunity as an ethical issue we could focus on.”
Throughout the duration of their fellowships, Dr. Lorber and Dr. Lynch will solicit manuscripts from national experts in obstetrics and gynecology and pain management, develop cases for clinicians to respond to and seek general commentary on the topics. Dr. Lynch said he already has learned from the others in their cohort who come from various specialties and are in varying points in their medical careers.
“It’s been a good experience for me to think about all the different perspectives on various ethical questions,” Dr. Lynch said. “My personal growth goal is to learn more about OBGYN pain management from a clinical perspective so when I go into residency at WMed I can bring that to the table.”